Driver alertness is important to the safe operation of a vehicle. The dangers of driver tiredness are well recognized, and a number of systems have been developed to detect drowsiness in a driver. For example, the state of the driver can be monitored, and approaches used to wake up the driver if the driver is detected to have fallen asleep.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,680,670 to Shinada describes an apparatus for a vehicle that includes a detector for the driver's state and physical condition. U.S. Pat. No. 6,014,081 to Kojima et al. describes an apparatus for a vehicle that prompts the driver to take a rest after a predetermined time or if an abnormal condition of the driver is detected. U.S. Pat. No. 5,923,256 to Satake et al. describes an apparatus to prevent a driver dozing including a sensor for eye closure duration. U.S. Pat. No. 6,950,027 to Banas describes an apparatus to detect a driver falling asleep, with a window being opened to rouse the driver in that case. These and other similar approaches generally relate to monitoring the physical condition of a driver, and providing a direct stimulus to rouse a driver from a sleepy state. However, if a driver is sleepy the best solution is probably for the driver to pull over to the side of the road and rest.
Conventional approaches fail to address a related but somewhat different condition of a driver suffering from boredom. A drowsy or sleepy driver is one that desires to sleep, regardless of the vehicle environment. A bored driver is typically one that has no particular desire to sleep, but minimal demands on their attention capacity lead to a feeling of boredom, which may develop into drowsiness even without a particular physiological need to sleep. Hence, boredom is a hazard to safe vehicle operation, and it would be extremely valuable from a safety perspective, at least, to develop systems and apparatus that can prevent boredom in a driver.
In other situations, a vehicle may be stopped, and the driver would welcome further intellectual stimulation. It would further be advantageous to provide systems and methods to prevent boredom in that situation.